


break a curse, make a promise

by qingting



Series: spells [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-26 00:46:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12047808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qingting/pseuds/qingting
Summary: Kunimi knows how to break curses, but dealing with feelings for a long lost ex-best friend who's about to leave again? Not so much.





	break a curse, make a promise

**Author's Note:**

> tbh this is really overdramatic and not very well fleshed out but it's been sitting in my files for a while so i'm going to post it on this beautiful day of september the tenth, one a.m. also i love the kitaichi trio and i hope they become friends again. anyways when will i learn to post something i'm actually happy with
> 
> sorry for crosstagging i normally don't like it but i felt like it was necessary because they have different dynamics? strongest in this is probably kunikage tho

 

“Okay, it’s done.”

Kageyama breathes a huge sigh of relief. “Will my magic come back after this?”

Kageyama is a powerful air mage, Kunimi knows this first hand. It feels unnatural to see his wild, potent magic humbled and restrained by a curse. He isn't complete without his magic, and once he gets it back he’ll finally have the freedom to travel again, to unlock secrets and develop skills other mages can only dream of. Kageyama is a powerful air mage, and no one can tie him down. Kunimi knows this, but…

“Of course. Have a little faith, won’t you, Tobio?”

… who knows when he’ll get to see Kageyama again?

The two stand in Kunimi’s workspace, a room hidden behind the displays of his shop. _Mystical Remedies of the Magical and Herbal Variety_ is the full name, a mouthful of words suggested by none other than Yahaba, but everyone calls it _Kunimi’s place._ And it is Kunimi’s place, and his place only, ever since he branched off from the guild and Kindaichi started taking on more jobs. He lives, works, eats, and sleeps in the shop and the little apartment above, all by himself.

That is, unless he has long term patients-slash-customers-slash-ex-best-friends-slash-reconciled-friends-slash-whatever-they-are-now. Kageyama stays in the spare room, and Kunimi ignores the dormant feelings he’s had since he was thirteen that have just started to awaken again.

It sucks to have a crush on one of your childhood friends. Having feelings for both of them sucks even more, so Kunimi doesn’t allow it.

Especially if one of them is about to leave.

Kageyama bustles around Kunimi’s storage space, poking and prodding at the different dried herbs and knick-knacks shoved into the drawers. Watching him out of the corner of his eye, Kunimi idly stirs the base for the spell ink currently brewing in his cauldron. He catches the slight jerk of Kageyama’s head when the bell on the door of his shop rings.

“Akira? Have you started yet?”

“No, not yet,” Kunimi calls in the direction of the storefront. “We were waiting for you.”

“Yuutarou,” says Kageyama, eyes blown wide. “You made it.”

“Sorry,” Kindaichi pants, face flushed and hair mussed, clothes covered in a fine dusting of metal. “The train broke down so I Traveled here.”

“Take a seat,” Kunimi says, holding out a flask of peach juice for him to take. “We’re just about to get started.”

Kindaichi sets his satchel down and accepts the juice, ignoring the empty wooden chair and standing across from Kunimi and Kageyama.

Kunimi sets the cauldron at a low boil, stirring it with a ladle in one hand and holding the other out to Kageyama. “You remember how this goes, right?”

Kageyama nods. “Yeah, you went through the entire procedure at least five times.”

Kunimi scowls at him. “It’s important.”

“I know.” Kageyama’s eyes glint, lips pressed into a thin line. Kunimi swallows.

“First, a remnant of your past.”

Kageyama places a coiled up necklace chain in his open palm, and suddenly it feels like the identical one tucked inside his shirt flares up against his chest, the pendant burning hot where it touches his skin. His thumb rubs over the insignia painstakingly crafted with Kageyama in mind, and it seems to shiver under his touch.

He hands it to Kindaichi, closing his hand over Kindaichi’s fist, and together they convert it to pure energy, so refined that only Kunimi can see it. He scoops it up in his hand, watching as it mixes in with the rest of the boiling liquid in the pot.

Kindaichi fists his shirt, clutching at the pendant made for him underneath.

Kunimi lets out a shuddering sigh. “Next, a piece of your present.”

Wordlessly, Kageyama offers him a scroll bound with ribbon, the wax seal broken. A letter from his new guild partner, a boy with hair like the sun and fire in his eyes. Kunimi’s never met him, but Kageyama paints such a vivid description of him that Kunimi wonders if the image of him and Kindaichi in Kageyama’s mind has greyed out.

Kunimi stirs the solution idly as the paper disintegrates in his hand, sprinkling its energy into the pot.

“You’re really a talented mage, Akira,” Kageyama murmurs.

_“You have so much talent!” Kageyama shouted at him, voice raw with desperation and confusion. “I don't understand why you're wasting it like this!”_

_Kunimi fought back the tears welling up in his eyes, let his face steel over into one of cold impassion. “Not everyone wants what you’re looking for, Kageyama.”_

Kunimi says, “You’re not the only one who’s changed.”

Kageyama looks at him, a soul-searching look that rattles Kunimi’s core and makes something coil in his stomach. “Yeah.”

“And now?” asks Kindaichi.

“A guess at your future,” Kunimi says, pausing his stirring to watch Kageyama pull the last thing out of his pocket.

Things, plural, actually. Kageyama takes out three silver rings and sets them carefully into Kunimi’s palm. Kunimi closes his eyes and exhales slowly as the rings melt in his hands.

The liquid turns from a sickly green to a dark blue, bubbles once more and then becomes flat. Kunimi kills the fire underneath.

He takes a simple hoghair brush, dips it in the potion, and paints the viscous liquid down Kageyama’s arms, up his neck, and across his face, drawing runes onto his skin. Kageyama is pliant under his touch, and Kunimi does his best to be gentle.

Kunimi steps back to examine his work with a critical eye. Kindaichi stands behind him, offering comfort with a brush of his fingers. Kunimi clasps their hands together and squeezes tight.

“Here.” He holds out the handle of the brush to Kageyama, who takes it gingerly. “Write the names of the two people who matter to you the most, one on each wrist. Be honest with yourself, or the spell will fail.”

Kageyama sets his left wrist on the rim of the cauldron, writing deftly on his skin like he’s written the name a thousand times before. A little more hesitantly, he switches the brush to his left hand and slowly, shakily, writes another name there.

Kunimi extricates his fingers from Kindaichi’s. “Let me see,” he says, gently tugging at Kageyama’s hands. He doesn't know why he asked to see. It’s not necessary that he see them for the spell to work, and anyways, the names there are definitely _Hinata Shouyou_ and _Yachi Hitoka._

Except they’re not.

In messy spell ink, two names as familiar to him as Kageyama’s own stare up at him, dark in their finality.

 _Kunimi Akira_. _Kindaichi Yuutarou._

Kunimi looks up at Kageyama, who meets his gaze head-on with something akin to fondness. He can feel his facade cracking. “I told to be honest to yourself,” he says, voice breaking. At any moment now, the ink will crumble off, leaving scars on Kageyama’s skin. “It won’t work-”

And then there’s a flash, and the names glow bright gold, nearly blinding Kunimi with their light. They drift off his skin, hovering in the air for a sweet second before dispersing.

Kunimi watches in wonder as the rest of the ink turns light, gradually fading from Kageyama’s body. When the last stroke on his face disappears, a gust of wind explodes out into Kunimi’s shop, nearly taking the ceiling off with its force.

The wind whips his hair into his face and bites at his eyes, but Kunimi can’t look away from _him_ , this boy with piercing blue eyes and power to make the great mages of old tremble. Wind bats at his bangs and fills up his cloak, sends it billowing out behind him. He looks… _regal._

Kunimi’s throat runs dry.

“Ka-”

And just as soon as it starts, it is over. The stacks of notes Kunimi had carelessly tossed on the counter earlier drop to the floor, and Kageyama’s bangs fall flat on his face.

“Looks like I have my magic back,” Kageyama says, tugging up the sleeves of his shirt over his wrists.

Kunimi can't bring himself to do anything, still frozen in shock. “I-”

His mouth drops open and snaps shut repeatedly. He can’t seem to move his hands or his feet, he’s lost control of his entire body except for his eyes and they can’t do anything but _stare-_

Suddenly, his feet are off the ground, arms trapped to his side as Kindaichi gathers both of them into a hug so tight he can feel the air leaving his lungs. Kindaichi sets them on the floor again, but refuses to let go. “Don't forget about us,” he mumbles into Kageyama’s shoulder.

“I won’t,” Kageyama whispers, but the sound seems loud enough to echo throughout the room and into Kunimi’s ears, playing over and over again.

Kunimi takes one of Kageyama’s hands, grips it tightly in his own. “I’ll hold you to it,” he says softly, like a declaration. In reality, it's the strongest plea he’s ever made.

Kageyama grips back just as hard, a promise written in the strength of his fingers. “Okay.”

Faster than Kunimi would like, Kageyama packs up his belongings, changes into traveling clothes, and leaves the room he’d been staying in for a few months barren, looking as if he had never been there in the first place. Kunimi’s throat tightens when he sees the blankets folded neatly in a way they never were when the three of them were in school together.

When Kageyama crosses the threshold of the guest room, Kunimi thinks he catches the plant in the corner wilting just the slightest bit.

“Thank you,” Kageyama says, dipping into a low bow. “For letting me stay. For helping.”

 _It was nothing_ , Kunimi wants to say.

 _You’re welcome here anytime,_ he wants to say.

_Please don't leave again._

Kunimi coughs. “Visit often, alright? Yuutarou can't stay as long as he used to.”

Kageyama jerks his head up, surprise and nostalgia and dare he say, hope swirling in the depths of his eyes. “O-okay.”

Kindaichi smiles, and Kunimi’s heart swells at how fond it is. He hasn’t seen this one in a while, and the realization slaps him raw. “Keep Akira company when I’m not here, alright, Tobio? He’d never say it, but he gets lonely sometimes.”

Kageyama blinks, fixing Kunimi with a contemplative look. “Yeah.”

Kunimi makes to go back inside, too drained both physically and emotionally to watch Kageyama leave. Kindaichi stops him with a hand on his shoulder. “Wait.”

He turns Kunimi around to see Kageyama digging through his bag, pulling out something in his hand with more care than he took to find it.

Two amulets hide in the folds of his hand.

“Will you…?”

Kunimi picks the wooden amulet up between two of his fingers, marveling at the shape whittled into the wood by Kageyama’s magic. So this is what Kageyama’s wind has manifested into, he thinks, rubbing his finger against the surface and suddenly feeling a little less tired, a little more powerful.

Kindaichi rests it in the palm of his hand. “A crow,” he says softly.

Wood tells all truths.

Kunimi flips it over and finds his name carved in the back. He wonders how long ago Kageyama made these, how long he had planned this.

He smiles. “Thank you.”

And suddenly he’s stepping forward, clutching at the fabric of Kageyama’s cloak and pulling him in for the second hug today, wrapping his arms around him so tightly, he might never let go. It takes Kageyama a few seconds to recover from the shock, but soon he’s hugging back just as fervently.

Body pressed to Kageyama’s, hands fisted into his clothes, Kunimi tucks his head into the crook between Kageyama’s neck and shoulder and tries his best to convey everything he’s wanted to say to him in the past ten years wordlessly. He thinks Kageyama understands.

Finally, he untangles himself from Kageyama, bites out a short “stay safe”, and heads back inside, trying to fight down the blush on his face. He busies himself with tidying up his work area, removing the residual magic lingering around the shop, and forces himself not to look at the doorway.

Kageyama and Kindaichi exchange glances, and then Kageyama grabs Kindaichi’s hands, holding them loosely in his own. “Please,” Kageyama says, looking Kindaichi straight in the eye, “make sure that smile stays.”

“I can’t do that on my own,” Kindaichi tells him.

Kageyama flinches. “I-I know,” he mumbles. “I’m sorry. But-”

“I’ll do my best,” Kindaichi finishes for him. “Akira’s probably not the type of person to say this, but know he means it as much as I do when I say wherever you go, know that you always have a home to come back to here.”

Kageyama’s smiles, just a little bit, but it’s genuinely and purely happy. Kindaichi hasn’t seen it in a long time. But it’s there, even when Kageyama looks away and bites his bottom lip to hide it, and Kindaichi thinks, _that is also a smile worth protecting._

 

**Author's Note:**

> this au doesnt have a lot of substance currently but i wanna write more for it! so be on the lookout for that. currently i'm plotting a yamaguchi-centric fic with possible tsukkiyama or tsukkiyamayachi
> 
> hit me up on [tumblr](https://yaoyoroses.tumblr.com/)


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